Package-delivery apparatus.



C. D. DEWEY.

PACKAGE DELIVERY APPARATUS.

APPLICATION FILED $313.4, 1909.

1,045,002. I v Patented Nov. 19; 1912.

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COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH CO.,WASHINGTON. D. c.

CHARLES D. DEWEY, OF SHEFTANDOAH, IOWA.

PACKAGE-DELIVERY APPARATUS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 19, 1912.

Application filed February 4, 1909. Serial No. 476,090.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES D. DEWEY, a citizen of the United States, residing at Shenandoah, in Page county, Iowa, have invented a new and useful Package-Delivery Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is to provide improved means for supporting and delivering packages, such as mail bags and the like, to moving railway cars.

A further object of this invention is to provide means on a railway car for receiving suspended packages automatically while the car is in motion.

A further object of this invention is to provide means on a railway car for operat ing a package-supporting device while the car is in motion.

My invention consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of elements hereinafter set forth, pointed out in my claims and illustrated by the accompanying drawing, in which Figure l is an elevation, partly in section, illustrating my improved apparatus in position for practical use. Fig. 2 is a detail cross-section and Fig. 3 is a detail side elevation illustrating the supporting and releasing devices on an'enlarged scale. Fig. 4 is a plan of the devices of Fig. 1, on a reduced scale.

In the construction of the apparatus as shown, the numeral 10 designates a suitable support, such as a post, located adjacent to a railway. A bracket 11 is fixed to and extends horizontally from the upper end portion of the post 10 toward the railway and is forked in its horizontal portion, having one arm of the fork above the other. A wheel 12, having a toothed perimeter, is arranged horizontally between the arms ofthe bracket 11 and is pivoted on a vertical pin 13 carried by said arms. The upper arm of the bracket 11 preferably is longer than the lower arm and is ofiiset adjacent to the hub of the wheel 12 and extended radially of said wheel toward the railway. A hook is mounted on a spoke 15 of the wheel 12 loosely, and said hook is movable circumferentially of said spoke. As many hooks 14 may be provided as desired, either on the same or different spokes of the wheel. The hook 14 is formed with an opposing lesser hook 14 adapted to receive and temporarily support a ring or loop 16, and the ring or loop is, in turn, fixed to and carries a package such as a mail bag 17. A stud 18 is mounted through the hook 14 above the spoke 15, when the hook is in normal supporting position, and said stud is cushioned to the spoke by a spring-pressed pin 19 extending from a socket in the lower end of the stud and frictionally engaging said spoke.

The railway car 20, adapted for use with the devices above described, is formed with a hinged hopper or chute 21 in one or both side walls, and said hopper is open-topped and is adapted to be carried, when in open position as shown, in a path beneath the suspended package or packages 17. A rack is provided on the wall of the car 20 above the chute. The rack preferably comprises spaced horizontal bars 22, 23 connected by vertical spaced rods or bolts 24, the latter also being spaced from the wall, of the car.

In practical use and operation of the apparatus above described, one or more packages 17 are mounted as shown and the railway car, in passing, causes the rods 24 successively to engage the teeth of and rotate the wheel 12. In such rotation of the wheel a spoke 15, carrying a hook 14, passes beneath the depressed outer end portion of the upper arm of the bracket 11 and causes the stud 18 to engage said arm and move the hook circumferentially of the spoke, to the end of releasing the ring 16 from the lesser hook 14 and dropping the package into the passing chute or hopper 21. On a single track railway the devices above described should be duplicated on opposite sides, to accommodate cars moving in either direct-ion.

I claim as my invention 1. A package delivery apparatus, comprising a supporting wheel mounted for rotation on a vertical axis, means for suspending a package on said wheel, a stop adapted to remove the package in the rotation of the wheel, and means carried by a moving car for rotating said wheel.

2. A package delivery apparatus, comprising a support, a toothed wheel mounted for rotation on a vertical axis 011 said support, a hook carried by said wheel and adapted to carry a package suspended beneath said wheel, a stop adapted to engage said hook, and means carried by a moving car for rotating said wheel.

3. A toothed wheel, a hook carried thereby and adapted to carry a package, a stop adapted to engage said hook, and a rack adapted to be carried by a moving car and also adapted to engage and rotate said Wheel.

4. The combination of a rotary support,

means for suspending a package on said support, a car having a chute adapted to be carried beneath said suspended package, and means on the car adapted to engage and CHARLES D. DEWEY.

Witnesses CHAS. F. CUMMINS, O. W. HAMMOND.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Iatents,

' Washington, D. 0. 

